Breaking News

Cryptozoologist Relocates

The author of Thunderbirds is closing up shop in the South and flying, er, driving back North. Mark A. Hall, cryptozoologist, Fortean, author, editor of Wonders, primary investigator of the Minnesota Iceman, former director of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained, and my good friend, is making his final relocation. After living in North Carolina for a few years and trying to make a go of it there, Hall is moving back to his home state of Minnesota. He is also permanently closing down his private publishing company, Mark A. Hall Publications (MAHP), and will no [...]

Sunday Op-Ed Funnies

Johor Hominid Says: “What’s this I’ve heard about some missing photographs in Maine? Would you like to see some drawings of them?” ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Meanwhile, deep in the rainforests of Malaysia….

Story About Turner’s Mystery Beast Has Legs

TURNER, Maine –Whether or not tests prove that a "mystery beast" is a dog or something else, the story that has captured headlines from coast to coast won’t go away any time soon, according to an expert in human behavior. The Sun Journal newspaper obtained samples of the creature and shipped them to a University of Maine professor and to HealthGen in Toronto for genetic tests to determine the type of animal, said Judith Meyer, managing editor. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ For the rest of the article, please do a search via your favorite Google news or Yahoo news service, or see: Story [...]

Bigfoot Researcher Dies In Tragic Accident

Jason Valenti and Star Sams are well-known Bigfoot researchers in Washington State. Many of us got to meet them for the first time after Jason decided to organize the Sasquatch Research Conference held at Bellingham, Washington, on May 27-29, 2005. The event was successfully hosted by Jason Valenti and Star Sams, along with assistance from Paul Smith and others. I was happy to be one of their guests and speak at the gathering. Sadly, the terrible news has reached Cryptomundo that Jason’s wife, Star, has died in a car crash on August 15, 2006. Our deepest empathy and sympathy to [...]

Maine Mutant Takes Down Website

The media attention was unabated on August 18 for this story, continuing late into the night for me with local television comments, scores of email inquiries & requests, and an interview on BBC News at 10:50 p.m. People wanted to have an answer to the "Maine Mutant" or "Mystery Beast" question, even when I told them there really is not one, but two parts here: the unknown large canid creature still out in the woods, uncaught, and the dead body off Route 4, which was most likely a strange, small feral dog. As noted below, with our publication of the [...]

Bizarre Animal Carcass Draws International Media Attention

Portland, Maine’s television station WCSH-TV, Channel 6, did a balanced, upbeat report on the media frenzy. They ended their report by showing footage of their reporter scrolling through the online “Maine Beast” blogs at Cryptomundo. Bizarre Animal Carcass Draws International Media Attention to Turner Web Editor:  Chris Facchini, Reporter   Created: 8/17/2006 5:11:52 PM Updated: 8/17/2006 5:15:39 PM Media from Maine to Germany to Madagascar have reported on the dead animal carcass that one expert says is likely nothing more than a feral dog. The Town of Turner is right in the middle of a media feeding frenzy. It’s all [...]

“Maine Mutant” Celebrated

When the media began dealing with the report of a body of uncertain identity in Maine on the 16th of August, they soon went wild with the story of the find and the even older tales of a killing mystery beast in the woods. For background, see: August 16, 2006 – Mystery Animal Photos and August 17, 2006 – Mystery Beast Update Cryptozoology is revealed in many ways. It is intriguing to see what kind of media frenzy is occurring because of this story. For the record, here’s some headlines that were used on the 16th and 17th of August, [...]

Mystery Beast Update: ‘Like horns of a devil’

Photograph by Douglas Van Reeth, Sun Journal. The story about the body linked to the central “Maine Mutant” broke over the second weekend in August and was discussed here when I was consulted on the case. The events continued, building steam as soon as both the Cryptomundo blog and Lewiston Sun Journal reporter Mark LaFlamme’s article hit the newsstands. As it turned out, worried about parts of the body being picked over, I rushed to Turner, Maine, on Wednesday afternoon, August 16, 2006, with LaFlamme and the paper’s photographer Douglas Van Reeth. There we met up with Michelle O’Donnell and [...]